Chapter 30
THIRTY
ALLY
“So you really weren’t tempted to take a job in Toronto?” I ask Drew, as he merges onto the highway back to Somerset. “For the fried chicken, if nothing else?”
He wasn’t lying when he said the lunch place was amazing. The restaurant didn’t look like much, but the fried chicken was the best I’ve ever eaten.
But I’m pretty sure anything we had for lunch would have tasted delicious.
I’m so relieved that Drew’s appointment went well that I can barely focus on everything else.
I hadn’t realized how worried I was until Drew told me he was okay, and I felt as if an enormous weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
“Of course I was tempted to stay in Toronto,” Drew replies. “And not just for the food. I’d be on call a lot less often in a bigger department, and there’s more money for research. But . . .”
“But . . .” I prompt.
“The big centers will always be able to recruit good people, and that’s not necessarily true for the smaller ones.”
“You like to fight for the underdog, huh?” I remember Breanna’s comment about Drew having a need to rescue people.
“I guess so, yeah.” Drew’s eyes slide to me for a moment before returning to the road.
“And my mother was treated at Somerset Hospital before she died,” he says quietly.
“While she was dying, really. She’d been hit by a car while she was crossing the street.
Some guy had a heart attack and blew through a red light. ”
“Drew, I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah. Thanks.” He glances over at me again. “I should have asked if you wanted to hear this.”
“Yes,” I say immediately. “If you don’t mind telling it.”
He shrugs. “She made it to the hospital, and they operated for seven hours, but they couldn’t save her. She died in the ICU the next day.”
“I’m so sorry.” I know I’m repeating myself, and the words seem inadequate.
“Thanks,” he says. “Anyway, it screwed us all up for a while. Breanna, my dad and me. A couple months later, Breanna got married to a guy she’d basically just met.
She was only twenty, but fortunately, it worked out.
My dad quit his job and moved to Calgary.
He got married again eight months later. ”
“Damn,” I say softly.
“Yep,” Drew agrees, and I can tell he hasn’t forgiven his dad for moving on so quickly. “I guess he did what he had to do to cope.”
“And you were how old?”
“Eighteen,” he replies. “I’d just finished first year engineering at Queen’s. And I needed someone to blame, but I couldn’t blame the guy who hit my mother because he was dead. The heart attack killed him. So I decided to blame the doctors who hadn’t been able to save her.”
He meets my eye for a moment before focusing back on the highway.
“Somerset’s the smallest trauma center in the country,” he says.
“And somehow I convinced myself that if she’d been helicoptered to Toronto, she could have been saved.
Or if she’d just had better doctors in Somerset.
In retrospect, it wasn’t rational, but .
. .” he trails off and lets his sentence hang.
“But you were eighteen, and you’d just lost your mom.”
“Yeah. I made my dad request a copy of the hospital records—she’d barely been there twenty-four hours, but there were ninety-seven pages.
And I read them over and over, determined to find a mistake.
I couldn’t, but I didn’t really know what I was looking for.
I even persuaded my dad to meet with a lawyer, but the guy didn’t think there were grounds for a lawsuit. ”
He taps his fingers on the steering wheel.
“But I still convinced myself that if I’d been a doctor, I could have done better.
And when I finished engineering, I went to med school.
I couldn’t save my mom, but I guess I thought if I could save other people it might give her death some meaning.
It’s a fairly common reason to end up in med school, but I think I was more obsessed than most.”
Drew runs his hand through his hair. “And partway through my residency, I read my mother’s hospital records again.”
“Did you find a mistake?” I ask.
“There was no mistake, Ally,” he says with a sigh. “Even if that accident had happened in the parking lot of the world’s best trauma center, she wouldn’t have survived those injuries. It was a miracle that the team in Somerset kept her alive for as long as they did.”
He’s staring straight ahead so I can only see his profile, but it’s enough to see the weight of his feelings.
“And I guess I felt guilty for blaming them, assuming they were incompetent. I’m not sure it makes sense either, but when I was deciding where to practice, coming back to Somerset just felt right.”
“It makes sense to me,” I tell him.
We don’t talk much for the rest of the drive home, but it’s a comfortable silence. We know each other well enough that we can enjoy each other’s company, even if we’re not saying anything.
“Is Hayley the sister who said you didn’t have reflexes?” Drew asks as we drive to Nico’s for dinner.
“Hayley’s my only sister, and she said I barely have reflexes.”
“Hmm.”
Drew’s too much of a gentleman to say more, but he doesn’t have to. That Hmm says everything.
“In case anyone asks,” I tell Drew, “I was still sick this morning. I only started to feel better at lunchtime.”
“Got it,” he nods. “What happened this morning?”
“Hayley’s graduation ceremony.” It’s sure to come up at dinner, so there’s no point in keeping it a secret.
“I see,” he says, as we turn into the parking lot. “You missed it to come to Toronto.”
“I didn’t mind,” I say truthfully.
Nico’s is one of those fancy places with classical music and real tablecloths. The ma?tre d’ leads us to a table in the back, where my parents are sitting with Hayley and Justin. Everyone stands as we approach.
“Alexandra,” my father says stiffly. “This is a surprise.”
I’m not sure if he’s surprised I’ve shown up with a date or that I’ve shown up at all. But either way, it makes me wish I hadn’t come.
“A good one, I hope,” I say lightly. I resolve not to let Dad get to me, and introduce Drew around the table.
“We didn’t know Alexandra was dating anyone,” my mother says, giving Drew a curious look as she shakes his hand. He looks really good tonight, in a charcoal gray jacket and blue tie.
“I guess Ally wanted to keep me a secret,” Drew says dryly. “I’ll try not to read too much into that.”
“Congratulations, Hayley,” I say, reaching into my purse for the card I bought her. I didn’t have any great ideas for a graduation present, so I got her a gift card for her favorite indie bookstore.
“Thanks,” she says, tucking the card into her purse without opening it.
We take our seats, and a waiter named Paolo arrives to take drink orders. Dad loses no time in telling Paolo that we’re celebrating his daughter’s graduation, and Paolo says all the appropriate things. He’s probably used to this.
Paolo disappears, and Dad turns to me. I brace myself for questions about my relationship with Drew, but I get a reprieve.
“It was a shame you missed the graduation ceremony this morning,” Dad says. “Hayley gave a very inspiring valedictory speech.”
“We took a video of it,” my mother puts in, pulling out her phone. “I’ll send it to you, Ally.”
“Thanks.”
“I’m glad you’re feeling better, Ally,” Hayley puts in. “Mom said you had a stomach bug or something?”
“Yep,” I nod. “But I’m much better, thanks.”
“Whatever she had was really miserable, though,” Drew lies shamelessly. “I was starting to get worried about her. But it turned out to be the kind of thing that hits hard, then disappears.”
Drew’s remark implies that he was looking after me, and my father gives him a measuring look.
“So how long have you and Alexandra been dating?” Dad asks.
“About a month and a half,” Drew replies.
“And how did you meet?” my mother asks.
“We both work at the hospital,” Drew says.
Paolo interrupts to take our orders. I’m tempted to order the scallops, but since I’m supposed to be recovering from a stomach bug, I opt for the vegetarian penne.
“Hayley was offered a job at the hospital,” my father puts in. “She did a placement on the internal medicine unit, and they really wanted her to stay, right, Hayley?”
“Well, they didn’t make a job offer, but they asked me to apply,” Hayley says modestly. “But Justin’s family owns a physio clinic, and it felt like a better fit. I’ll have more flexibility, and I’ll get to be my own boss.”
It seems more like Justin will be her boss, which might be great, so long as they don’t break up.
“And with Hayley’s investment, we’ll be able to expand,” Justin puts in. “We’re planning to take over the unit next door, and with the extra space, we’ll be able to hire a couple of associates.”
“You’re buying into the practice, Hayley?” I ask. I’m pretty sure Hayley doesn’t have any assets to invest in a physiotherapy practice. Either she’s taken out a bank loan, or my parents are fronting the money.
Hayley blushes a little. “Yeah. I mean, Mom and Dad are lending me the money, but—”
“We think it’ll be an excellent investment,” my dad puts in.
I paste a smile on my face. “That’s great.”
“If you ever want to come work for us, Ally, we’ll probably need to hire another admin assistant soon,” Justin says.
Drew’s hand finds mine under the table, and I clench it tightly.
“I’ll keep it in mind, Justin,” I manage.
“What kind of work do you do, Drew?” Justin asks.
“Neurosurgery,” he replies.
“Like . . . you do the operations?” my mother asks, looking impressed.
“Yeah,” Drew nods.
Justin immediately spots the networking opportunity. “You must refer a lot of people for physio,” he remarks. “Like, after traumatic brain injuries, intracranial bleeding . . . do you do spine stuff, too?”
“Yep.”